It seems important to talk soberly about issues these days without shouting — you know, ALL CAPS!!

Donald Trump is president for the next four years. That fact brings out a lot of emotion in people, some really positive, some terribly negative.

But since Trump will soon be commander in chief, his well-known personality now means less than his policies, which will bring massive changes for this country.

What will he actually do? Beyond all of our hard feelings related to the election, now is a time to look toward the bigger question — what next?

There are so many issues to look at. And like most everything, it’s good to view them from multiple angles.

So here’s one recent issue: Trump went to Indiana to announce a deal with Carrier that keeps roughly 1,000 jobs in the U.S. On the ground level, you have to think about the families that benefit from a job not being lost. That’s surely a huge relief to a number of mothers and fathers. Christmas will surely be brighter in those houses. And that’s nice.

On the second level, you have to think about what the deal signals to other companies. I expect some businesses, who weren’t planning to leave the country, may now feel inclined to bluff a move. I know that would be in my mind if I was a CEO of some big company. Why not make noise about a move? You could announce that you’re planning to move 40,000 jobs overseas. You could negotiate some great deals for your company, maybe big tax breaks, which may actually affect local and state revenues more than the federal ones, then you could get the president to come to town to hold a press conference saying that he saved 40,000 jobs, all while you never seriously intended to move. I’m not saying that’s going to happen. I’m just saying that would be in my mind if I ran a big business. It looks like an opportunity, given what just happened with Carrier.

On the ideological level, you have to wonder, what about the free market? It has been a Republican mantra for many years that the free market will correct itself. Interference by the government is seen as bad in a free-market economy. I was surprised to see Sarah Palin criticize Trump for this deal, calling it crony capitalism. Her harsh words, in Republican circles, were very politically incorrect. So, her calling it like it is represented a type of courage in the moment, given the potential backlash.

“When government steps in arbitrarily with individual subsidies, favoring one business over others, it sets inconsistent, unfair, illogical precedent,” said Palin.
“Republicans oppose this, remember? Instead, we support competition on a level playing field, remember? Because we know special-interest crony capitalism is one big fail.”

She’s simply reminding Republicans of the can of worms that always exists in the government stepping in to give a particular business a break. You always reflexively have to ask: Well, what about the competitors? Government intervention in healthcare has been a huge no-no ideologically for conservatives. Palin is right to question how exactly it’s OK here. Palin showed conservative consistency by criticizing the Carrier deal, because it was a true example of government entering the free market to dictate terms. So where does the party stand now on the most basic tenet of its ideology — free-market capitalism? Are Republicans troubled at all by the government giving a particular business a hand, perhaps at the exclusion of another? It will be interesting to see.

On another level, if we are truly entering a new age of government intervention in businesses, where the president is going to negotiate deals like the Carrier example, then we need to know any financial connections he — or any others involved in the negotiations — may have to the businesses getting the breaks.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Trump owned up to $250,000 in bonds in United Technologies, Carrier’s parent company.

“Mr. Trump in 2014 owned an investment between $100,001 and $250,000 in United Technologies Corp., according to financial disclosure forms filed during the presidential campaign,” the Wall Street Journal reported. “It couldn’t be learned whether he still had a financial investment in the company because disclosure forms are filed only annually. Mr. Trump’s 2015 disclosure is the most recent one available and was filed in May 2016.”

Maybe that’s not an issue whatsoever. I truly don’t think many people care. But these are the sorts of things that any president needs to have disclosed, whether it’s voluntarily or by the press — whether people actually care or not. That’s because it’s in the public’s interest to have the facts when taxpayer dollars are at play. Whether you cheer for the team in charge or against it, this country is at its best when the taxpayers are informed about their tax dollars. We can bicker about meaning, but we can’t bicker intelligently unless we actually have the correct information.

All that said, we are entering one of the most uncertain and fascinating times in American history. How will this country look in four years? No doubt, huge change is coming. Let’s remember that policies on major issues are at stake. Let’s argue these policies fiercely. Then, let’s remember that we are in the same boat and let’s each fight our own hateful tendencies. We each have them, all of us. We each need to battle that demon inside ourselves first before we look outward at others.

Otherwise, we become nothing but more gas on the big flame. And we all see the fire. It’s raging.

I'm glad for those employees at Carrier. But lets remember…..since obama entered office he has increased the national debit more than all Presidents combined. Where did the money go……to Muslim country's and big banks.
The Federal Reserve has a trading desk for the stock market…..WHY? Are they manipulating the Market for propaganda? Do they buy when the market turns down? Food stamps are the highest ever, 50% of 25 year olds live at home, the U-6 unemployment rate is over 9%, obama care insurance is rising beyond affordability, DOES ANY OF THIS APPLY TO YOUR POST? I'm an older CITIZEN…..who remembers when we had HONEST reporters. Truth, justice and the American way. Now we have propagandist for the socialist party. Now your party……wants to dispute the election results. Muddy the waters, subvert the Constitution. Kill the Republic. We are watching. It won't be easy.

Vanguard is a very large investment firm. They watch the economy to see where best money should be invested given current circumstances. Money can be made regardless of political power as long as the facts of the economy are known. Here is what they are saying:

"The Fed's decision, which was widely expected, reaffirms its confidence in the strength of the U.S. economy, which is in the midst of one of its longest expansions. The labor market is essentially at full employment, and inflation is on track to reaching the Fed's 2% target."

Obama inherited a serious economic train wreck and has spent his term cleaning up the mess and bringing the economy back on track. Now that we are here, the Republicans will claim credit for the good times to come as a result of Obama's efforts, efforts consistently blocked by Republicans. It's amazing to me that they didn't cause us to go into actual depression. Give credit where credit is due. With this in mind, presidents don't have very much ability to control economics, especially in the new global economy. They can't do a lot about automation eliminating jobs since capitalism rewards efficiency. Those without jobs need only blame capitalism and global competition.

The big problem with preaching the gospel of "free market" is that most of the people on the planet who participate in that market are not "free". China is the elephant in that room.

We cannot speak seriously about a global economy until we have a global government, which idea is, I have heard, a bible-thumper's definition of prelude to world's end.

Most of the big corporations that make all the stuff we buy are not based in the US anymore, so we cannot really speak of competition among governments.

The writer Chris Hedges calls this state of activity "inverse totalitarianism", whereby international corporations tell all national governments what they can do.

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